8:29 PM

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- If Friday's weigh-ins are any indication, Southern California's ardor for the Ultimate Fighting Championship's heavyweight titleholder hasn't dimmed since his last appearance in the area more than a year ago.

A crowd that organizers estimated at slightly more than 2,000 roared for Cain Velasquez as he stepped onto the scale in the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium to make this weekend's main event official. Against challenger Junior Dos Santos in Anaheim, Calif. at the Honda Center, Velasquez on Saturday (9 p.m. ET, Fox) will attempt his first defense of the belt he won at the same venue in October 2010.

Velasquez's embrace of his heritage as the son of a Mexican migrant worker makes him a popular figure in the Latino community. With several people brandishing Mexican flags or wearing them as capes, the audience on Friday was louder than any gathering at weigh-ins for UFC's events in the United States over the last few months.

Their noise went both ways. Boos directed at Dos Santos drowned out an attempt by a small contingent of his fans to chant his "Cigano" nickname. But the challenger expected it; he attended the event last year that saw Velasquez overwhelm Brock Lesnar to win the title.

"They were really going crazy for him in Anaheim last year," Dos Santos told USA TODAY soon after his fight with Velasquez was announced. "But in a fight, my focus is my opponent. ... It really doesn't matter what the crowd is doing because at that moment in time, I'm not paying attention to them."

Coming off a hiatus that lasted 13 months because of a partially torn rotator cuff, Velasquez on Friday weighed 249 pounds, his heaviest in eight UFC bouts. But his weight has been inching higher throughout his career as a pro fighter; he weighed 235.5 pounds for his first UFC fight in April 2008, 238 pounds in October 2009, and 244 pounds for his victory against Lesnar.

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